Tuesdays With Hildy: Who Was Your First Hockey Valentine?

Likely a more common response with my age group, but dammit if he wasn’t the main player I watched as I grew up.

That and nobody else had their own comic book that I was aware of.

Barclay Plager with sloppy seconds going to Al MacInnis

I had heard of the Blues and most of their players since 1967 (when I was six), but Gassoff was the first guy that I really started to follow as an individual. Derek Sanderson was close behind, since my dad bought me a copy of his book when I was about 13 or so.

I got into hockey, just about the same time McDonalds was releasing their “Brett Hull Future Hockey Man” comic book. It was awesome. Hull somehow ends up in the future and has to play a game against a bunch of robots. anyways, Hull is my reason for falling in love with hockey.

Freshman year of college I knew nothing about hockey, but was quickly taught to bleed blue and was even taken to a game. The skill and class that MacInnis showed in every game captured my heart.

I was so impressed with Bobby Orr’s play I practiced for several nights painting the number 4 on my brand new skates like he had on his. It was the next day on Coldwater Creek during some pond hockey when my buddy said I could buy the fucking vinyl numbers at Geisler Jordens, the pro shop next to Winterland, and just peel n stick. FML. I messed up a perfectly good pair of Bauer Black Panthers to honor Orr and had to face my Mom’s hurt look when she saw what I had done, she worked her azz off so I could play hockey. Thank you mom. I think the numbers were like a quarter each and you could get white or yellow. I did go a lot faster with those numbers on my skates too. Dude was the smoothest skater I’ve ever seen and that includes the Big Red Russian teams.

Honorable mention to Bobby Plager.

He owned St. Louis when I was a kid

I’ve loved the Blue Note since 1970 (when I was 10) but my love has always been for the team rather than the individual players. When I started going to games with my dad in the 70s, the player I noticed was #11 of the Buffalo Sabres, Perrault. Dude could flat fly.

Recently have developed a huge man crush on Inglorious Backes, to the point where for the first time I now own a jersey with a player’s name and number on it instead of a blank back.

I’m a Blues fan now because of him
Also to Patrick Roy…..ugh. The guy broke my wee little heart as an 8 year old when his Sherbrooke Canadiens beat the Skipjacks in the ’Jacks only appearance in the Calder Cup Finals.

A player’s player. Had the skill. Had the vision. Had the smarts. Had the confidence.

I wasn’t one for hanging pics of sports figures on my wall, but a couple of Lemieux images made it out of my magazines and onto my corkboard. Because of him, I decided at a young age that if I ever made it to pro hockey, I would add the ‘x’ back to the end of my name (it fell off somewhere down my lineage…a few years after the American Revolution, I think).

>ducks<

Yeah, I know he was a Blackhawk…but 1) he was a damn good player, and 2) at that age in my life…he was super cuteness. LOL

Brian Sutter. Broke my heart when I found out he wasn’t related to Bruce. I forgave him, though.

Hey, I was 5. What was I supposed to do?

Then Rick Heinz and Mike Liut showed up and I knew I wanted to be a goalie. Someday!

Met him in the Galleria when I was about 10-12. I told my mom who he was. I was too shy to say anything, but my mom wasn’t. We walked and talked with him and his family for about 30-45 minutes. He was so cool and even thanked me for recognizing him because most people didn’t when he didn’t have his mask on. Don’t know if that is true or not, but one of the coolest things that happened to me growing up.

since my first game in 1968 I was only 5 so as I got older I’d have to say my ‘Valentine’ would be
Garry Unger. Wooeee was that boy fine and still is.

Chantelle Tkachuk…….man she had a pert little ass…..

one of at the time three men I thought looked good with or without facial hair.
that list has now been expanded to five people.

I played defense on a shitty little ragtag pickup team when he came on the scene here in St. Louis. I studied his game to improve my own and sighed when he smiled. I was (and still am) absolutely smitten.

I was 8 when I got my first Blues jersey, and I about shit on Christmas morning in 99 when I opened the box and found a SIGNED MacInnis jeresy. To this day it’s my most prized possession and I have a frame that it will eventually be hung up in. I can’t say what exactly made me love him so much, but I know I was always amazed with how hard he shot. My earliest hockey memory is a game against the Ducks I believe where MacInnis took a shot that hit a defenseman in the cup, and the guy was down for a good ten minutes. That guy’s nightmares have to be filled with Al.

Couldn’t have been anyone else at the time I started following the sport. 86 goals in one season? That’s just Goddamn insane, and no one has done anything like that since in the NHL, and it may not ever happen again. That impressed me as a young lad.